BACK TO THEIR FUTURE

Schools were back in session across the north country Tuesday, but Watertown City School District sophomores, juniors and seniors got to enjoy their last day of summer vacation.

Watertown High School hosted Freshmen First Day on Tuesday to help ninth-graders get adjusted to the high school without any upperclassmen. The rest of the students report to school today.

"I think the ninth-graders like the individual attention they're receiving today," Principal Lloyd L. Peck said. "We can give that to them today, and I think it's a nice thing. Many other schools do an orientation in a night, but they get an entire day to go through their schedules, find their lockers and do team-building activities."

Tuesday was the school's Freshmen First pilot, part of an initiative to help ninth-graders transition from Case Middle School to the high school, and ultimately to improve the district's graduation rate.

In addition to Freshmen First, the school is hosting 20 advisory groups of 15 ninth-graders each that will meet for 20 minutes each day. The advisers are there to help students with the social and academic transition to high school.

The only concerns Mr. Peck heard from students on Tuesday were about the size of the school and getting lost, he said.

Mr. Peck, who is new to the district this school year, spent the morning speaking to all of the teachers and shaking hands with as many students as he could.

Ninth-graders heard from Mr. Peck during an assembly in the morning, and spent the day finding their classrooms and meeting with their advisers. The students seemed less nervous than they usually do on the first day, Assistant Principal Leslie E. Atkinson said.

"For the most part, we were delighted and things were so much more relaxed," Ms. Atkinson said. "Our goal is getting these kids across the stage in a cap and gown with a diploma in their hand in 2014."

IN OTHER DISTRICTS...

Immaculate Heart Central High School started the year with new Principal Lisa A. Parsons. The school's enrollment for grades seven through 12 is a little over 300 students. Enrollment stayed about the same as last year, and approximately 10 percent, or 30 students, are at the school through an exchange program, Mrs. Parsons said.

"It's been wonderful to be here, and everyone has been very welcoming," Mrs. Parsons said Tuesday morning. "These are big shoes to fill, and I'm looking forward to the conversations we will have in the future to make this a smooth transition."

Mrs. Parsons, who succeeds Pat A. Fontana as principal, is one of many new administrators in north country schools this year: Joseph S. Sedita is Carthage High School's new principal; Mr. Peck and Mrs. Atkinson are new at Watertown High School, Terrance L. Gonseth is Case Middle School's new principal and Mary-Margaret U. Zehr is the city school district's new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

The Carthage and Indian River central school districts are starting the school year with recent spikes in enrollment. At Carthage, there are 225 more students than there were at this time last year, and district officials are planning to use the federal funding they are slated to receive to bring back the six elementary teachers whose positions were cut last year and to hire a seventh to accommodate the growth.

At Indian River, students are coming back to schools as the district's capital construction project is nearing completion; the main item still unfinished is the large group instruction area at the high school.

The district's enrollment was 4,104 students Tuesday, which is an increase of more than 300 students from the first day of school last year. A few dozen additional students are in the process of being enrolled, and owing to the growth in housing units on and around Fort Drum, district officials estimate they could be enrolling many more students between now and January.

"We're going to see quite a bit of growth for a while," Superintendent James Kettrick said. "We'll be checking enrollment and class sizes on a daily basis to see when we may need to activate reserve positions or hire more teachers."